Blog Archives
Best Remark of the Day
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is definitely not afraid of speaking his mind. There is no doubt I agree with his comments regarding Warren Buffett. Buffett has repeatedly called for higher taxes on those who are rich, and this is coming from a man who owes taxes going back to 2002.
Christie said:
Cut a check and shut up, that’s what I say, okay? I’m tired of hearing about it. He wants to pay more taxes, pay more.
Christie is right on the money with this comment. Perhaps, Buffett should do what’s right and pay more taxes. God knows he makes enough, and if he wants to pay more, then by all means, he should pay more.
On the first day of defeating Saslaw…
Welcome to the Twelve Days of defeating Dick Saslaw, State Senator for the 35th District. Each day up until Election Day, we will have a post devoted to highlighting Saslaw’s service (or lack thereof) in the Virginia State Senate. Of course, I am endorsing his opponent, Robert Sarvis, as he will be the best representative for our district.
So, let’s get started with the festivities:
On the first day of defeating Dick Saslaw, YouTube gave to me...one great clip declaring his love for raising taxes.
Yes, this might be an oldie, but Saslaw voted to increase your taxes. After all, he can’t get enough of your money. Saslaw wanted to raise the gas tax and that he would raise sales tax to fund transportation.
“This is a political issue and sooner or later someone’s going to have to have a backbone to do something about it,” Saslaw said.
Raising taxes hurts working families. Why does Saslaw want to hurt those he claims to represent? Since he says raising taxes is a political issue, then let’s make it a issue to defeat him on November 8.
Yet Another Reason to Defund NPR
After the firing of Juan Williams from NPR, I felt that there should have been some changes in the NPR leadership and for Congress to remove funding from this agency immediately. Now, the time has come to end the gravy train for NPR, especially after this video, and the remarks by the senior executive in this video only goes to show the liberal bias of this organization.
Since the release of the video, there have been some changes over at NPR. Ron Schiller, an NPR Senior Executive, and Vivian Schiller, CEO of NPR have been fired from their positions.
While this news is overdue, it is imperative that the Federal government eliminate funding to NPR. NPR and any other form of public broadcasting is not something that should be funded by the government. At least, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and other legislators are recognizing that it is not the government’s role to be funding television or radio programming. I am certain that the taxpayers don’t want to be funding entertainment, rather receiving their money back and allowing them to spend it accordingly.
Way to Drive Business Out of Virginia, Dave!
According to The Washington Post, Del. Dave Albo (R-Springfield) is trying to sabotage Gov. Bob McDonnell’s efforts of bringing jobs to the Commonwealth by proposing legislation to tax out-of-state corporations that sell services in Virginia as a way to generate funds for transportation improvements. These corporations include law firms and computer programming companies.
I really love that Albo is not considering this a tax increase. It is a tax increase, plain and simple.
Albo sent the proposal to his Republican colleagues in the House Wednesday with a note explaining that it is not a tax increase.
“This is not a tax increase on Virginians,” Albo said. “They’ve got to vote for this. I can get 51 votes in the House and I’ll get every reasonable Republican.”
Chris over at Mason Conservative has a great post about this, and his point is spot on regarding transportation.
Of course this solves nothing because Virginia’s standard for transportation spending is still based on road miles and not overall usage – which means the rest of the states roads look great but there is never enough for us no matter how much we tax.
It is my hope that every reasonable Republican will stand on principle and vote against this bill. This legislation will place the burden on non-Virginians and make Virginia less attractive to new businesses.
Tax Increases are Not the Way to Rebuild our Economy
Guest Post by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.)
The American people continue to face one of the most challenging times in our nation’s history. The latest unemployment numbers mark the 16th consecutive month that our nation’s unemployment rate has been at or above 9.5 percent – the longest period since the Great Depression. Unfortunately, these are numbers that the American people are all too familiar with and yet the Democrats in Congress continue to pursue an agenda that will further threaten American job creators and families. This week House Democrats pushed through legislation, without my support, which includes massive tax increases on American families and small businesses who are already struggling to make ends meet. While the legislation would make permanent some of the tax relief provisions from the 2001 and 2003 tax laws such as the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit, it allows other existing tax cuts to expire, resulting in tax increases on January 1, 2011.
While it is common-sense that you should not raise taxes on employers at a time when unemployment is so high, this point seems lost on the Democrats in Congress who aredetermined to raise taxes on America’s job creators. Small business owners across the country want to invest in their firms and hire new workers, but instead they are bracing for costly new tax increases. It’s been estimated that these tax increases will hit 750,000 small business owners who employ more than 25 percent of our total workforce.
Additionally, American families will be hit hard with the reinstatement of the estate tax, also known as the death tax. The Democrats’ legislation allows the death tax relief fromthe 2001 tax law to expire which means that the tax will return with a 55% tax rate which will penalize many small business owners including farmers. These folks have spent a lifetime building a business and creating jobs only to have their families hit with confiscatory taxes often requiring the family business or farm to be sold.
The only way to help rebuild our struggling economy is to ensure American families and small businesses are not confronted with these oppressive tax hikes. For this reason I am a strong supporter of the Tax Relief Certainty Act, which would permanently extend the current tax rates, provide a permanent repeal of the death tax and implement permanent relief for the Alternative Minimum Tax.
The American people are demanding that Congress abandon its job-killing, tax-and-spend policies and instead focus on real solutions that will create jobs, putting Americans back to work and restore economic prosperity to our nation. If Democrats are serious about job creation,there’s one clear way forward, and that’s for us to come together in a bipartisan way and passlegislation immediately that cuts spending and stops all of the approaching tax hikes.Congress must focus on passing legislation which puts money back into the hands ofthose who can really turn our economy around – the American people and small businesses.
Massive Tax Increases Will Hit All Americans
Guest Post by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.)
More than 7 million jobs have been lost in the last three years and over 3 million of those jobs have been lost since the President signed the so-called stimulus bill into law last year. Unfortunately, these are numbers that the American people are all too familiar with and yet the Congress continues to pursue an agenda that will further threaten American job creators. While Americans are asking “Where are the jobs?”, the Majority in Congress continues to demonstrate that they do not understand the priorities of our constituents or appreciate how private sector jobs are created.
It is clear: the policies of higher taxes, runaway spending, government takeovers and record debt which have become commonplace in Washington these days are having a chilling effect on the nation’s small businesses, the economic engine of our economy. From the so-called stimulus bill to the government takeover of our health care system and the threat of higher taxes and massive deficit spending, these policies have further hindered the creation of private sector jobs.
Unfortunately, just a little over four months from now, Democrats will impose further tax increases on American families and small businesses who are already struggling to make ends meet. According to the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation, unless the $3.8 trillion tax hike, which will take effect on January 1, 2011, is prevented every American income taxpayer will face higher rates. Specifically, 88 million taxpayers will pay an average of $503 in higher taxes due to the elimination of the ten percent bracket, 35 million married couples will pay an average of $595 in higher taxes due to a reinstatement of the marriage penalty, 31 million families will pay an average of $1,033 in higher taxes due to a reduction in the child tax credit, the death tax will soar to 55 percent, and 94 percent of small businesses will see their tax bills increase as well.
At the same time that millions of Americans are confronted with these oppressive tax hikes, they will also be faced with the first round of tax increases that are part of the new health care reform law. This monstrosity includes over 20 new taxes or tax increases which total $569 billion in additional taxes on individuals and employers.
As if all of this isn’t devastating enough, more than 25 million taxpayers will be ensnared by the Alternative Minimum Tax and higher taxes will be levied on investments starting January 1, 2011.
The last thing our economy needs is crushing tax increases. Instead Congress must focus on policies that allow individuals and businesses to keep more of their hard-earned tax dollars, which would encourage investment and provide financial relief for America’s small businesses. Most importantly Congress must send a clear message to our nation’s job creators that they can hire new workers with the confidence that a higher tax bill is not on the way.
I remain committed to working to stop these massive tax increases on small businesses and working families that will have a devastating impact on job creation and our struggling economy. I will continue working to enact responsible legislation which puts money back into the hands of those who can really turn our economy around – the American people and small businesses.
To contact me about this or any other matter, please visit my website at www.goodlatte.house.gov
The Ultimate B@!*#slap
Pardon my language, but this ticks me off. Philadelphia is requiring bloggers to pay $300 for a business license. In a time, when local governments are scraping for money, they have found a way to generate money for their coffers by imposing such outrageous fees. Are they afraid of bloggers exposing the real truth about what is happening at town hall?
This is another case of the nanny state at work. Just another regulation imposed and the liberty of speech is being suppressed daily.
LeBoo is Going to Miami!
Surprise, surprise! Last night, sports fans seemed to be watching with the ever-so-cautious eye over what LeBron James was going to do next. The likelihood of staying in Cleveland seemed non-existent, as James was growing dissatisfied with the Cavs. Where would he land? Would it be Chicago or New York? No. As we learned last night, James was headed to Miami, where he could try to bring a national championship to South Beach.
So, what can we learn from James’ decision? Could his decision be based on the conservative premise that he was looking for a better opportunity and a better locale with lower taxes? This would be one factor. As Ohio’s economy is dying (now, Cleveland’s economy will continue to tank…as it was based on LeBron James) with unemployment levels at an all-time high and the tax rate being just as high, James made a pretty good decision by moving to Florida. After all, he will be paying less in taxes than he was in Cleveland.
While LeBron James is the top news story in America and a disappointment to Cleveland Cavaliers fans everywhere, there are other important things we need to be concerned about. For example, President Obama and Congress continue to ignore the liberties granted to us in the Constitution, whether it is continuing to spend excessively while the nation faces a $13 trillion deficit, or continuing to waste taxpayer dollars on frivilous lawsuits against states for actually enforcing laws.
Forget about the Budget…Let's Raise Taxes
Why doesn’t this surprise me (and forgive the irony)? The Democrats in control of Congress have neglected to pass a budget. With the deficit continually rising, it seems odd that Congress does not want to work on the budget. Then again, there’s not much initiative to do so with the current leadership, as they are more concerned with raising taxes.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in media interviews yesterday indicated that taxes will increase to address the deficit issue. I guess Hoyer believes increased taxes will spur the economy and solve the deficit. Hoyer is wrong. Increasing taxes will hurt working families and it has never been the solution to addressing budget deficits and the economy.
Perhaps, it is time for Congress to examine their spending habits and create a realistic budget that will boost the economy and reduce the deficit.
Whatever happened to the Budget?
There is a question that the Americans should be asking Congress and that is: Whatever happened to the budget? It seems like a simple question that is usually addressed every year by Congress, but this year, distractions have popped up. For example, there’s the oil spill, fiscal regulatory reform, and yes, even some meddling in the European Debt Crisis. The budget has hit the wayside.
BankruptingAmerica has a great video out addressing Congress’ ignorance of the budget. The question is: Will they address it this session or will it be saved for the new Congress?
